Trump says he hopes Pope Leo will 'get better fast'

October 14, 2026 7:52 PM EDT

A woman holds a rosary and a card portraying Pope Leo outside Gemelli Hospital, where the Pontiff is being treated for lung cancer following surgery to remove part of his right lung, in Rome, Italy, October 14, 2026. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

By Jarrett Renshaw and ‌Kanishka Singh

BULLHEAD ​CITY, ​Arizona, Oct 14 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he hoped that Pope Leo, who has been ‌diagnosed with lung cancer, would "get better fast."

DETAILS AND ⁠QUOTES:

• "I want to see Pope Leo get well," Trump told reporters. "I just ‌want to wish him well, ‌get better fast."

• Pope Leo, 71, was diagnosed with lung cancer after surgeons removed a part of his right ​lung on Tuesday, according to the Vatican.

• His recovery from surgery is progressing as expected and he has ⁠begun walking in his hospital room and eating normally, the Vatican said on Wednesday.

• ​Leo and Trump have been critical of each other in the past.

• Leo, the first US ​pope, has called for a "deep reflection" ‌in the US about how migrants are treated under Trump, cast the Trump administration as being "extremely ⁠disrespectful" to immigrants and criticized what he called their "inhuman treatment."

• On the US foreign policy front, the Vatican has declined to ⁠join Trump's "Board of Peace" initiative for Gaza and the pope has criticized ​the US-Israeli war on Iran.

• Trump called Leo "terrible for Foreign Policy" and "WEAK on Crime" in an online post earlier this year.

• Late last ‌month, Leo said that concerns about AI having the potential to destroy the world should be ‌taken seriously, in an apparent rebuke of Trump, who has ⁠said that fears the ‌technology poses a threat ​to humanity are a "hoax."

(Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, writing by Kanishka Singh; editing by Michelle Nichols and Stephen ‌Coates)



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